Hammond Square: Cars, Wine, and Photobooths added up to success

On a very cold Wednesday night, our first annual Lover’s Lane event was a huge success thanks to the many local vendors, car owners and organizations willing to brave the elements! Hammond Square had 40 Classic Cars lined up on Palace Drive outside of businesses from Cato to Menchie’s. There were over 100 people from Hammond and the surrounding area bundled up, but still in the mood to gather with friends and loved ones and revel in the oldies music, classic cars, wine tastings and a warm photo booth. If you are wondering if people enjoyed the photo booth, you can check out the pictures on the Hammond Square Facebook page as proof they did! We went through three cases of wine that night and the bottle selections made by Red, White and Brew seemed to fit the event just right.

Multiple tenants reported increased sales the night of the event. The restaurants were the biggest benefactors as the car owners and event patrons stepped in the heated spaces for dinner and snacks. Increasing traffic to our tenants is an added benefit of these events!

A Tenant Team Spirit award went to Maurices for their great participation in the event. They had live models in their store windows, passed out coupons during the event, and even let their employees try out the photo booth! A close second was the newest tenant at Hammond Square, Obsession. With a new owner, new merchandise and new management, the store passed out cupcakes and provided a sneak peak of all the fabulous clothing they will have available starting in March when they open.

There were some items that could have been improved. After the event I had many people tell me that they did not know about it. We heavily utilized Facebook, e-mail and other online media as our main promoting tools. We had one banner and three small landscape signs on site. Hammond Square is now an open air shopping center instead of an enclosed mall so we lose some of the reach impact that one or two major entrances can prove helpful for.

Because of this observation, signage for the next event will be placed at every entrance. We feel this may reach the crowd that doesn’t check in electronically on a regular basis, but does shop at the Square.

So what is next? Apart from our regularly scheduled Tangi Humane Society pet adoptions on the last day of every month; there is an Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, March 30th! The Golden Oldie Motor Club decided to hold their big Children’s Hospital fundraiser at Hammond Square in the lot by Nagoya and Albasha on the same day as the Hunt. We are taking the success from Lover’s Lane and making this an all-day event for the entire family with the Easter Egg Hunt on Palace Drive starting at 9:30 am and the Car Show participant registration going from 8:00 am – Noon. Hammond Square can only take the credit for the Easter Egg Hunt. Most of the work for this event is done by the Golden Oldies Motor Club who will even have a Kid’s Choice winner for the vehicle picked to be the coolest by the younger judges.

By Hammond Square slowly becoming known for being a social meeting area and tool for the community, we hope that it promotes a general feeling of community throughout Tangipahoa and the surrounding Parishes. As the Square becomes more active with new tenants and with even more successful existing tenants, we hope it will be used as a tool to show how Hammond is growing and changing in the right direction. Shop local. Shop Tangi!